Beebe Badgers

Conference: 5A East

Coach: Ryan Marshall, fourth year at Beebe; 63-21 record

2012-13 record: 21-7 and first place in 5A East

Returning starters: Tanner Chapman, 6-2, 185 pounds, senior point guard; and Zach Baker, 6-7, 235 pounds, senior post. “Everything offensively will be keyed around those guys,” Marshall said.

Best inside players: Zach Baker

Best outside players: Tanner Chapman. “Tanner is our leader both on and off the floor,” Marshall said.

How will you match/exceed/fall short of your success from last year?: “It will be tough to match last year’s success of a conference championship,” Marshall said. “It gets tougher every year when you return from winning conference. We will try to continue to build on our success the last three years of competing for a conference title and making the state tournament. Our main focus is to finish in the top four and give ourselves a shot at state.”

Team strengths: The team will have strong post play, along with returning all-state point guard Tanner Chapman.

Areas to improve: “We have a lot of young players that must get better with our system and defensive philosophy. There will be a lot of new faces this year. We have six sophomores. We’ll be trying to get the younger players acclimated with the pace of the game and our system,” Marshall said.

Games to watch: “All 5A-East games are good ones to watch. It’s a very competitive league,” Marshall said.

College prospects: Chapman and Baker. “There’s already been some interest in both. They’ll both play at the next level. It’s just a question of where,” Marshall said.

In a nutshell: “Our goal is to compete for a conference championship and give ourselves a shot at making the state tournament,” Marshall said.

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